10 TERRIBLE Levels That Stopped You Replaying Great Video Games

Tim Schafer's Psychonauts is an absolute joy to play. Its mix of varied, innovative platforming action, sharp humour and clever world-building makes for an almost perfect experience.

The game offers a cornucopia of levels unparalleled in their imagination. Each area is a representation of a character's psyche, taking the form of twisted '70s dance floors, suburbs overrun by shady government agents and a city at the bottom of the ocean inhabited by plankton. But at the end of this journey is the game's final test of patience: The Meat Circus.

The Meat Circus is a hellscape of the worst kind. The player must make their way to the top of a gigantic circus tent where everything, platforms and trapezes alike, are constructed from raw meat and animal bones. The platforming is unforgiving, and the game's uncooperative camera only compounds this. Not helping matters at all is the additional fact that this extremely difficult platforming gauntlet doubles as an escort quest, with protagonist Raz's stupid friend running on ahead and getting repeatedly beaten up by angry mangled bunny carcasses.

This adds a frustrating ticking clock element to a section which could have been bearable had the player had the time to take the platforming carefully. Sadly, we're not afforded that luxury.